


With A Friend in Need

by Sunshineshipper



Category: Borderlands
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-09-07 20:20:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8814889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunshineshipper/pseuds/Sunshineshipper
Summary: Rhys lets out a dry chuckle that's followed by a sigh because he knew exactly how Fiona would act if he offered the money. Even if he’s only known her for a short period of time, the past few months have felt like years to him, he knows she was stubborn when it came to taking help from others. Any money she’d agree to take from him would have to be stolen.





	

“No. Absolutely not.”

Rhys lets out a dry chuckle that's followed by a sigh because he knew exactly how Fiona would act if he offered the money. Even if he’s only known her for a short period of time, the past few months have felt like years to him, he knows she was stubborn when it came to taking help from others. Any money she’d agree to take from him would have to be stolen. That didn't stop him from trying. He thought they had a good enough relationship that she would accept his help without any kind of rejection, and clearly it was a mistake on his part.

So, he grips the envelope and reads each letter of her name he wrote down until she hits the table with her glass. Not too loud, but just enough to startle him. The dimly lit lights of the bar made it hard for him to pinpoint exactly how she was feeling and it was twice as hard since she was avoiding eye contact, but he could tell his offer had hit a nerve for her.

“Is it that bad?” he grips his own glass with no intention to drink it and suddenly her eyes look toward his hand, “I mean, you said you needed the money. And you turned down my job offers.”

“I'm not doing that either. I'm not working for you.”

“I'm not asking you to, Fiona,” he watches as she bites her lip and wonders why she seems as nervous as she does, “But what's wrong with me trying to help?”

“Who said I needed it?”

“You did.”

It made her speechless, so crosses her arms and looks at each bottle behind the counter until her anger-filled eyes are staring daggers into him, “Well, maybe I don't need the money now. Sasha's doing great at August's bar and she's the only reason why I needed the money.”

“To get her off this planet,” it was more of a statement than a question because it's the only reason he knows about that she’d need it and he’s known that every single time they discussed it, but he wasn't so sure about how he felt when the idea of her leaving Pandora came up. Especially now that he was here for good. Who is he to say what she could or couldn't do, though? He knows that it’s been a dream for her and Sasha to get as far away from here as possible. Somehow he thinks that offering money was his way of accepting it. Even if the whole thing was a lie.

Her hard exterior slowly melts away, something that shocks him, before she finally responds, “Why are you trying to give me money anyway? You earned it from the company. You've been doing a great job.”

At first he’s surprised by the compliment only because for the past couple of months it's either been insults or her trying to irritate him. 

‘You'll probably end up like Handsome Jack did. Or worse.’

And he’d laugh it off by saying that if that did happen, he’d give her permission to knock him out, a comment she would agree to. But he thought she was serious, he had always believed she thought he was just as evil because of where he was from. Now he wasn't so sure.

“I wouldn't have it if it wasn't for you,” it's quiet and he’s not sure how she takes it since all she does is shrug, but he almost wants to reach out and brush back the strand of hair that always falls in her eyes, “Here.”

She watches him push the envelope back over to her. She doesn't touch it or even looks at to long.

“How much?”

“10 million.”

“Rhys,” she's shocked, he can tell. He was just as surprised when he realized that he made that much in such a short time of owning Atlas and 10 million was just a small amount of what it was actually worth. 

“I owe it to you anyway since I blew up the first 10 million.”

“But that was for the vault key, which we faked, so how can you-”

He rests his hand on top of hers and pulls a little closer until she’s only inches away, “That was different. We weren't friends.”

“I guess so, but I don't…”

He can see that she struggles to say what she wants to say because she always does, which means that whatever it is must be something she's thought about for a while. He doesn't push for her to say it. Instead he grips her hand, intertwining their fingers, and waits.

She looks between her now empty glass and their hands, her eyes lingering more on his. He likes the way they look when she's concentrating even if he’d never tell her that. And he wonders about the scar on her eyebrow. A story she hasn't told him yet, but he's never asked either. He figured it was just damage from one of many cons she's pulled over the years. Yet he’d still listen to the backstory of it while hanging onto her every word. That seems how they work now. He’d call it a routine for them. Especially late at night when he’s finally back in his apartment and she’d call only a few minutes after because she knows just how busy he is. That would have to be his favorite part of the day.

“I don't want to leave,” its emotional and he has to wonder if she's fighting back tears, “There's so many reasons why I should. Like Sasha. She has wanted to leave for so long and still does. This planet is a hell. You can't go a day without watching someone die and… there has to be better. So, why do I want to stay?”

“Why do you?”

“Because of y-”

He didn't have to wait for her to say it since he immediately knew. He was the reason why she wanted to stay. He was the reason why she didn't want the money because if she took it there would be nothing standing in her way of leaving. And she didn't want to. Of course he was surprised. With every insult and injury he had to believe she didn't think too highly of him and now she was admitting to the fact that he was keeping her here. From what he was feeling, he wasn't too upset by it.

“You know, I can always save it for you. Just in case you decide to do better than this place or anything else you want to spend it on. It’s still yours.”

She grins and it’s the first time he’s seen her happy tonight, “Thank you.”


End file.
